European shares slip; Areva sinks after dropping targets

Redacción de Reuters

1 MIN. DE LECTURA

PARIS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - European shares inched lower in early trade on Wednesday, with mining shares dragged by a sharp fall in iron ore prices and nuclear group Areva sinking after it dropped its financial targets.

Shares in France’s Areva tumbled 19 percent after it suspended its 2015 and 2016 financial targets, blaming delays to a Finnish nuclear project, the slow restart of Japan’s reactors and a lacklustre nuclear market.

At 0807 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.3 percent at 1,356.86 points.

Rio Tinto fell 2.4 percent and BHP Billiton shed 1.3 percent.

China’s iron ore futures slid nearly 5 percent to a record low on Wednesday, piling more pressure on spot prices that have slumped to their weakest in more than five years as a supply glut hangs over the commodity.